(Index No. 700221/11) Kaufman Dolowich Voluck & Gonzo, LLP, Woodbury, N.Y. (Brett A. Scher and Yale Pollack of counsel), for respondents.
the plaintiffs appeal, as In an action, inter alia, to recover damages for defamation, limited by their brief, from so much of an order of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Butler, J.
representation of an unidentified seller in connection with the purchase and sale of real property, and from a certain statement made by Shen during a press conference which was conducted with Ming Hai for the benefit of three Chinese-language newspapers.
"In determining whether a complaint states a cause of action to recover damages for defamation, the dispositive inquiry is whether a reasonable listener or reader could have (Goldberg v Levine, 97 AD3d concluded that the statements were conveying facts about the plaintiff' 725,725; see Gross v New York Times Co., 82 NY2d 146, 152).
A court may grant a motion to dismiss a defamation cause of action if the complaint cannot support a finding that the' statement refers to the plaintiff (see Chicherchia v Cleary, 207 AD2d 855).